Toronto May Get Bike Sharing- Again

Toronto had a bike sharing program long before the Paris Velib or Montreal's Bixi. But it closed down in 2007, for want of a $ 75,000 subsidy, chicken feed in the City's transportation budget. We noted at the time that "Toronto is becoming a green embarrassment."

But since then Paris has it, London has it, New York is getting it, so Toronto's gotta have it, and is getting back in the bike sharing business.

But of course the Community Bicycle Network'sBike Share Program, which put people to work fixing old bikes, painting them yellow and putting them in prominent locations in a low key, low cost community-based system run by volunteers, it isn't good enough for Toronto any more.

All the world class cities have professionally managed, computerized, pay by the minute on your credit card or cellphone systems with custom bikes, no doubt imported from China.

a Public Bicycle System that provides a fleet of bicycles, conveniently located throughout the city at secure, automated self-serve parking stations for a subsequent Request for Proposals (RFP) process.

this will lead to a subsequent "Request for Proposals" to select a proponent.

Two years ago Toronto had a working bikeshare system, according to Now Magazine: "the largest and longest-running of its kind in North America (it put us on the map in the delivery of community-based sustainable transportation)" but the City wouldn't help out and it died. Now bike sharing is cool again. Why isn't a community based bike sharing system?